The San Bernardino County Sun, Friday 17 April 1925, Section Two, page 11 - "'Death Shaft' Claims Second At Upland Well"

What this document records

Record

News report of a fatal industrial accident, with the coroner's inquest verdict

Date

17 APR 1925 (dateline UPLAND, April 16)

Note

The fullest of the four accounts of this accident the catalog holds ([J.402], [J.555], this, [J.557]). It is the only one that records THE OUTCOME OF THE INQUEST, and the only one that states where the inquest was held. It also gives the mechanism in more detail than [J.555], and a named account of the first death at the same well.

Reading notes

THE DATELINE IS 'UPLAND, April 16' AND THE TEXT SAYS 'instantly killed TODAY' - so this paper, like [J.555], puts the death on 16 April 1925. That is now two independent papers against the California Death Index's 15 April [F.367]; the disagreement is recorded, not resolved, on William G Cooper. IT DISAGREES WITH [J.555] ABOUT WHERE THE INQUEST SAT. [J.555], printed on the morning of the accident, says an inquest 'was being held at Draper's Upland chapel this afternoon at 3 o'clock ... part of which will be conducted at the scene of the accident.' THIS report, printed the next morning, says it was held 'at the scene of the accident'. Both can be true of a hearing that moved; neither is asserted here over the other. 'J. B. Draper' is read at 5x and the B is unambiguous at that scale. [J.555] names 'Blake Draper of the Draper mortuary'. Whether J. B. Draper and Blake Draper are the same man is NOT asserted - see William G Cooper. IT NAMES NO PARENTS AND NO SURVIVOR EXCEPT THE SON JOSEPH.

Leads

THE INQUEST FILE IS STILL WORTH ORDERING EVEN THOUGH THE VERDICT IS NOW KNOWN - the verdict is one line; the file behind it holds the jury's testimony and the identification of the body, which is where next of kin are named. San Bernardino County, Deputy Coroner Emmett Waters, 16 April 1925. AND THE BURIAL TRAIL HAS MOVED TO TEXAS - see [J.557], printed the following day, which reports the body leaving for Walnut Springs, Texas.

Body

'Death Shaft' Claims Second At Upland Well

(Special Staff Correspondence)

UPLAND, April 16.—Marking the second fatal accident at a well being sunk by the Euclid Water Company at Seventeenth Street and Benson Avenue within a period of less than three weeks, George William Cooper, 49 years old, was instantly killed today when the hoist which he was operating for the lowering of steel casing into the well suddenly collapsed and a fragment of iron was hurled with terrific force completely through his chest, tearing out portions of his lungs and heart. A. J. Seamon, another workman, who was descending the well on another cable at the time of the accident, was painfully bruised and lacerated when the cable from the broken hoist plunged into the well on top of him.

The first fatal accident at this well occurred March 30 when Lee Linder sustained injuries which caused his death two days later when a bucket in which he was descending the hole with Robert Beard got away and fell 60 feet to the bottom.

Today's accident occurred with such terrible swiftness that it has been difficult to determine its cause. One report is that Cooper, thinking the casing was descending too rapidly into the well, set the brake and this caused the wheel of the hoist to collapse and scatter in bits like shrapnel, some pieces being hurled through the roof of the building which housed it.

Mr. Cooper was a widower and only recently came to this section from Texas with a son, Joseph Cooper, also a well worker, with whom he resided in the Alta Loma section.

At the inquest this afternoon before Deputy Coroner Emmett Waters at the scene of the accident, an accidental verdict was returned by the jury.

Funeral arrangements are in charge of J. B. Draper, but have not been completed.